Kitsap Transit board debates composition changes

BREMERTON — Facing a passel of decisions in the coming year that will affect the future of public transportation countywide, Kitsap Transit’s board of commissioners is first turning its attention inward.

The 10-member board, which oversees Kitsap Transit’s operations, has added three new faces this year. This week, they’ll consider additional changes to the board’s composition, including the possibility of replacing Bremerton’s second seat with an at-large position.

Under state law, transit agencies must review the composition of their governing boards every four years. But board members have already questioned whether the current makeup best represents Kitsap.

“When this structure first started, it was Bremerton Transit. We are now Kitsap Transit,” Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson said at the board’s first meeting in 2018.

Right now, nine elected officials serve on the Kitsap Transit board: the three county commissioners, the mayors of Kitsap’s four cities, a Bremerton councilmember and an at-large member (currently Poulsbo Councilman Ed Stern). A non-voting member represents the agency's labor unions.

Erickson argued that because the populations of Kitsap’s three other cities combined outpace Bremerton, replacing one of Bremerton’s seats with an at-large position would better represent riders.

“We are growing in different ways, so in order to reflect that we are Kitsap Transit, that second council position should be chosen by the chair,” Erickson said.

Representatives from Bremerton pushed back against the idea. New Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, who joined the board in January, argued that the density of services and jobs in Bremerton — including Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the county’s largest employer — make public transportation a priority in the city.

“It’s far more complex than just population,” Wheeler said.

Bremerton Councilman Richard Huddy, who resigned from the board in mid-February, encouraged the board to look at its membership, but disapproved of removing a Bremerton position.

“I see that as a move to diminish the importance of Bremerton on the Kitsap Transit board,” Huddy said.

Huddy said he resigned because of the increasingly political nature of the board and because he believes it isn’t doing its job of holding Kitsap Transit accountable. He said he favors a five-person board with elected members.

"I just don't think that the board of commissioners as it's currently composed at the time has the focus or the expertise to provide effective oversight for the organization," Huddy said.

Any changes that might be made to the board will begin Thursday, when a subcommittee of board members is scheduled to discuss the issue.

The “review committee” is made up of one representative from each city and the county. It can make several changes, including removing a seat from Bremerton; reducing the number of county commissioners on the board; or reducing the total number of board members to as few as five.

"I think ultimately we want to have representation on the board that can be a voice for the citizens within the service areas, and however that is best done," county Commissioner and board chair Robert Gelder said.

The board has several big decisions on the horizon this year. Routed bus service is slated to get a $1.5 million upgrade, and the board has the final say on what plan is implemented. The board will have to decide on the best way to fund a new transfer center in Silverdale. The fast ferry service’s reservation system, which has experienced multiple performance issues, also is under review.

Each city has its own different transportation issues — the board has heard public comment in recent months about Bremerton’s parking shortage and issues with frequency of bus service. Huddy argued that the push to remove Bremerton’s seat is evidence of an increasing politicization of the board.

“One of the problems that exists with that board is that it's gotten very political,” Huddy said. “You have certain factions on the board that are determine to move resources to their areas of the county.”

Other board members also said they’ve noticed an increasing divide, but not one that is insurmountable.

"I haven't had in my seven years, until recently, any concerns about politicized oversight,” Gelder said. “I think it's just a new phenomenon that wasn't necessarily constructive, and I think we're able to move past that.”

Stern, the at-large commissioner, said the debate over the fast ferry issue mmight have polarized the board and spread to other issues. But he agreed that the equal representation on the board should be studied.

“I think we're working in the direction of data-based decisions," he said, "and that should reduce that tension again."